On a fresh winter’s day that promised
to be full of showers 12 NCVs, Paul, 3 heritage skills students and their
supervisor met at Ellington Banks for the third instalment of conservation work and great
crested newt habitat improvement. The MoD ecologist, John Black, gave us a
quick safety briefing and then it was off to work in good sunshine. Not a cloud
to be seen anywhere.
Graham eagerly took on solo fire duties with the assistance of a ‘large
fire starter’ provided by Paul. The rest of us broke up into smaller groups
sawing and lopping in the unexpectedly warm sunshine. In an impressively short
space of time the ‘fire on the bog’ was established and was fed by the fruits
of everyone’s labour.
No small task to get a fire going in the centre of a pool of water.
Brash production increased significantly when Paul “2 chainsaws” Mosley
and John set to work on the larger trees. All the while a small number of brash
piles were being created as habitats for wildlife.
A picture of elegance - who is the muddiest? This is the best of the brash piles so far.
During the morning break John provided an informative outline on the
life-cycle of a great crested newt. Who would think they could travel so far and
are proficient diggers in search of appropriate winter hibernation locations.
Major Paddy Ennis, the officer
responsible for three army sites including Ellington Banks, came up to inspect the
work and thank us for our efforts. He kindly offered to make the site available for an evening for those interested to see the newts later in the year.
After a
team photo it was back to work, except now with the company of the much
promised rain / sleet / snow showers.
The NCVs meet Major Ennis.....
...and then pose for a whole group photo.
Which of them look fit enough to join the army?
A quick lunch (under the shelter of what trees we hadn’t sawn down) was
taken and a highly productive afternoon finished with a short walk around the
perimeter of the conservation area led by John, who provided insights into some
of the activities and armoured ‘furniture’ on other parts of the site.
This old tank could do with some conservation work!
As we left, with the bonfire burning
itself out, you could see the large area that had been cleared around the two ponds to
benefit the great crested newts.
Osian
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